March 19, 2024

The NightCap

The Market: We expected to see a tight trading range until the FOMC statement but instead we saw buyers in advance of the statement as the S&P 500 (SPY) pressed higher.  The the announcement came and there was a sharp sell-off but buyers came right back and all 4 major market indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished above the pre-FOMC announcement highs. As was expected by many, the FOMC left the Fed Fund Rates unchanged but, based on the comments, it appears a rate hike is on the table for December if the data warrants.  We also saw the committee…

Stocks recover after early slide

Index & Sector performance 3/26/15 The Market: Today’s session started of much worse than it ended with the futures losing ground in the overnight and early session causing a gap down which continued lower in early trading but manged to recover and stage a midday rally which even saw all 4 broad indices spend time up on the day.  In global news, traders were focused on Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen which helped Crude Oil traded over $51 u more than 3% on the session. We would not be signaling that the coast is clear yet and see risk in…

Sharp snap back rally — SPY up YTD

Index & Sector performance 3/12/15 The Market: Strong performance today with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge for the 2nd straight day followed by the Dow (DIA) and S&P 500 (SPY).  Friday will be an interesting session as traders will have to decide how they want to end the week.  In the very short term the SPY looks stretched so we would consider using a gap up tomorrow morning as a (very) short-term selling opportunity. In individual sectors it was the Financials (XLF) which led the way finishing up 2.13% followed closely by Consumer Discretionary (XLY) which ended up…

Market churns while XLU heads lower

Index & Sector performance 2/25/15 The Market: Another day of churn as the market continues to grind with an upward bias.  As we posted over at StockTwits we are starting to see a lot of negative divergence setting up on the MACD.  Divergence is not a trigger itself but is showing signs that each move higher comes with less momentum and excitement. Utilities (XLU) was the leader to the downside and a name we recently posted about in the Charts section.   After seeing a lot of people bullish on the name, we laid the road map we felt the Bulls…

AAPL helps drive late day sell off

Index & Sector performance 9/9/14 The Market: All major indices on the WSC Scoreboard finished the session lower with the Russell 2000 (IWM) leading the charge down 1.18%.  The S&P 500 (SPY) started the session weak but found a bottom in early trading and then managed to rally until 2pm ET when the index turned and sold off making new lows for the session.   The NASDAQ (QQQ) held in well during early trading as traders were likely waiting for the Apple (AAPL) product announcement.  The initial reaction to AAPL’s news (new/bigger phones, watch, payment system) was positive and the…

Close lower ahead of bank stress test

Index & Sector performance 3/26/14 The Market: Early morning upside action quickly reversed and started a strong sell off which broke the short term uptrend line in the emini, back-tested and then continued lower into late day trading.  Yet again the 1856ES region was a key short term level and now is strong resistance but the emini will have to first get through 1847ES to start and build a bull case, otherwise don’t be surprised to see the S&P test the 50 day moving average which is roughly 15 points lower.   Reporting EPS 3/27/14 Pre-Market: Analyst Comments: Chart of…

Strong up day ahead of Jobs

Index & Sector performance 2/6/14 The Market:   In the News:     The following noteworthy companies are scheduled to report earnings before tomorrow’s open: CI, MCO, WYN, LH, BPL, APO, CBOE, MSG, FLIR   Analyst Comments:       The Game Plan:

Apple finally lands China

Index & Sector performance 12/23/13 The Market: The market was able to produce a gap higher to start this shortened trading week which will include a half day of trading Christmas eve and the market will be closed Wednesday December 25th in observance of Christmas.  After the gap itself the S&P remained in a roughly 4-5 point trading range the entire day on light volume. There was a fair amount of economic data released today but nothing that really tipped the balances.  Core PCE and Consumer spending came in right at expectations while Personal Income slightly missed (0.2% vs. 0.4%…

Week in Review

DJIA +3.76 (+0.03%); to 13,025.58 S&P 500 +0.23 (+0.02%); to 1,416.18 NASDAQ -1.79 (-0.06%) to 3,010.24; Friday’s action was another consolidation day just below the 50 Day SMA.  The entire range for the day was 8 S&P points  and while the index closed higher, we spent the majority of the day down. Stocks of the Day today included Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD).  Finally bouncing off very depressed levels, this has been a name we have featured as a Trade Idea.  There was news that the company plans to sell its Austin, TX campus but this rally seems more like en and of…